Sometimes Things Just Fall Apart
by flowerrrs25
Summary: Ross just doesn't get it. Laura can't bring herself to stop hoping that he will. One-shot. Raura-ish.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: I'm just frustrated don't read this

* * *

"Hey guys," he greets as he walks through the door, a wide grin on his face.

She gives him a tight-lipped smile and turns back to her conversation with Raini and Calum.

His smile falters a bit. "What's up? How's it going?"

It's the first table read for season four of _Austin and Ally_ and this is the first time she's seeing him in two months.

"Hey man," Calum says finally, after a few beats of uncomfortable silence.

He frowns. "Did something happen? What's wrong?"

"Nothing happened," Raini says. "We're just—"

Suddenly, she can't take being in the same room as him for another second. She quickly walks out, making sure not to brush past him on the way.

"What the—"

She doesn't stop to find out what he says but instead almost runs into her dressing room, slamming the door behind her.

She sits down heavily on her couch, and rests her face in her hands, trying to breathe. She promised herself she wouldn't get like this, but seeing him in person was more difficult than she had anticipated.

There's knocking at her door not even two minutes later and of course it's him and of course today the lock on her door is broken. Of course.

She doesn't say anything or move to answer the door and watches the doorknob, hoping he'll assume it's locked and go away.

No such luck.

The door swings open and she immediately pretends to be occupied with her iPad, even though it's out of battery and she's staring at a black screen.

"What is going on?" he asks, frowning at her. "What's up with you?"

She clenches her jaw.

"Laura?" he asks, his voice softer this time. "What's wrong?"

She swallows and stares harder at the tablet in her hands.

"Can you please leave, Ross?"

She can feel his eyes on her. "We haven't seen each other in two and a half months and the first thing you ask me to do is _leave_?"

She nods and bites her lip, still staring down at her lap.

He doesn't leave. Instead, he moves to sit next to her on the couch.

"What the hell is wrong?" he asks, obviously annoyed.

She bursts. "What the hell isn't wrong?" she yells, and his eyes widen in shock. "You think you can just come in here and pretend everything's okay after all the shit you've pulled in the last six months? I don't even know who you are anymore!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Clubbing, drinking, smoking, hooking up with random girls? Any of that ringing a bell?"

He opens his mouth but she continues, her face reddening as her voice rises in volume.

"You look _awful_. You never smile anymore. You sound like a pretentious, ungrateful dick in all your interviews. I honestly don't even know why we're doing a fourth season because it's obvious this is the last place you want to be!"

She takes in a ragged breath and stares at him, her eyes narrowed.

"I didn't think you were the type to believe rumors," he says quietly, his eyes downcast.

"Look at me in the eyes and tell me they're not true," she whispers.

He's silent, his eyes fixated on a hole in his jeans.

She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a breath. "Okay. Can you leave now?"

He stands up slowly, and she can see that his jaw is clenched, his entire body radiating tension. "I'll uh…I'll see you out there."

She doesn't acknowledge him as he leaves and as soon as the door shuts behind him, she tightly presses her palms to her eyes.

She will _not_ cry over him.

* * *

She gets up to leave the instant the table read is over, her car keys already out as she quickly walks to the parking lot.

She hears footsteps behind her and she knows it's him but she doesn't dare turn around.

"Laura?" he calls, and he jogs up to her. "Can we talk?"

"I have to go," she says curtly, her pace quickening.

He cuts in front of her, forcing her to stop walking. "Stop it," he says. "I need to talk to you."

She lets out an irritated sigh. "Fine. What?"

"Can we go somewhere that's not…the parking lot?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Whatever. Let's just go back inside."

They walk silently back into the studio and into his dressing room, where she sits uncomfortably on the edge of his couch.

"Where did you hear all that stuff?" he asks softly.

She looks at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me? It's all over the internet. Every time something happens with you, I hear about it. I'm half of _Raura_, remember?" she asks sarcastically.

He takes a deep breath. "I'm not…I didn't…"

"If you're seriously going to try to deny it, I have nothing to say to you," she starts, standing up to leave.

He lunges forward and blocks her exit. "No, I wasn't going to deny anything," he says. "Just…listen for a second."

She remains standing and crosses her arms as she looks up at him impatiently.

"I just…I wanted to be normal," he says finally. "Guys my age do this kind of shit all the time. And it's not like there are pictures or anything that'll screw me over."

She stares at him in disbelief. "I honestly can't believe you," she seethes. "I'm leaving."

"Wait!" he says. "What's so bad about what I did? If I were in college I'd be doing the same thing and it'd be nothing."

"You're not normal!" she yells. "Are you _serious_? That's your excuse? Tell me, Ross, what normal college freshman is _idolized_ by millions of little kids? What normal 18 year old is on magazine covers? What _guy your age_ is paid thousands of dollars to travel the world and play music?"

"That's not fair!" he yells back. "How can you expect me to live up to this perfect—"

"I don't expect you to be perfect," she says quietly. "But I thought you were smarter than this. You've seen so many people who are exactly where you are now completely lose themselves to fame. You've always said that would never happen to you. You're arrogant, and you're so ungrateful, and you seem so _disrespectful_ lately. Before, you were confident, and so enthusiastic, and _sweet_, Ross."

He's silent for a long moment. "People change, Laur."

She shrugs. "Then I don't really want anything to do with you anymore."

He scowls. "How's that supposed to work?"

"Aren't we just _colleagues_?" she asks, putting air quotes around the last word, looking at him pointedly.

He falters. "I didn't mean it like that, Laura, I—"

"After everything we've been through, you have the nerve to call us colleagues? I've never considered you anything less than a best friend, but I guess I was way off. It was also really nice to hear multiple times that there's absolutely no one you missed while you were on tour." She laughs bitterly. "You make me feel so stupid, Ross. I've never felt like such an idiot in my entire life."

The blood drains from his face as he stares at her, obviously not having expected her to know, let alone confront him about anything he'd said to the press while they were apart.

"But it's fine," she says, tucking her hair behind her ear as she looks at him. "I accepted it. People change, right? So I'm going to leave now, and I'll see you tomorrow. We're going to be professional and get through this season, and then you'll be done with me, done with Disney, done with whatever you think is holding you back."

He looks at her helplessly. "I'm sorry," he says quietly.

She stares at him for a long moment before walking up to him and carefully circles her arms around his waist. She tucks her head against his chest and closes her eyes as he wraps his arms around her. "I'll always be there for you, if you ever need me," she whispers. "But right now, I don't really want to be here with you."

"What if I need you now?" he mumbles, his voice muffled by her hair. "What if I told you that I want to be with you?"

She squeezes her eyes shut but two tears escape before she can help it and run down her cheeks before getting lost in the fabric of his shirt. He feels it and pulls back, his hands immediately coming up to frame her face. He gently wipes the tears off with his thumbs and she trembles a bit in his arms, her eyes still closed.

"Don't cry," he whispers. "I'm pretty sure I'm not worth it."

She takes in a breath, trying to compose herself. She opens her eyes. "You used to be," she replies, her voice breaking slightly. "You are so much better than this. I just hope you realize that before it's too late. You're so talented that it _hurts_, Ross, and you have so much potential, but sooner or later, the decisions you're making are going to backfire, and you'll realize that you're throwing it all away for nothing."

He drops his hands from her face, releasing her from his embrace, and she takes a small step back.

"How do I fix this?" he asks, his voice cracking.

She sighs. "Think about what you want. And then think about whether or not what you're doing right now is going to help you get it."

He hesitates. "And if I want you?"

She turns to walk out of the room and stops at the doorway, turning her head to look at him. She gives him a small smile.

"Prove me wrong."

* * *

Hahahaha. I don't even know. Thank you for reading this nonsense.


End file.
